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Ex-candidate accused of unlicensed contracting
By JAMIE MALERNEE and JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
© St. Petersburg Times, A former County Commission candidate whose campaign foundered amid questions about his construction business now faces charges of contracting without a license. William Alonzo Merritt, 53, of Hernando Beach is scheduled to be arraigned in July on the misdemeanor charges. County officials originally discovered Merritt was working without a proper license or insurance for his employees during his failed campaign for commission last fall. His business, SeaScape Custom Homes, was temporarily shut down and Merritt was fined about $1,700. Throughout the campaign, Merritt maintained that his firm lacked a license because of a paperwork error. His partner, Brooksville contractor Dennis Bartina, simply never transferred his license to the company, he said. The county allowed the company to resume business after state officials reported that the proper documents were on the way, development director Grant Tolbert said. "Then several months passed and we heard they never had the paperwork in and were operating with Bartina as builder," Tolbert said. Bartina said Thursday that he no longer has any business ties to Merritt. He would not discuss why. "We have no animosity toward each other," he said. "We just got caught up in some unfortunate circumstances." Merritt still has no construction license. He said Thursday that he tried to take the state qualifying test in February but state officials would not let him because he was "under investigation." He said that he has done no construction work since being fined by the county because he was under the impression it was still forbidden. "I'm sitting here starving to death," he said, adding that his wife's income has kept the family going. "They won't let me do a thing." But according to the new charges filed against Merritt, authorities say he was contracting without a license until January of this year. No further specifics were given. Assistant State Attorney Bill Catto said he filed the charges based on a letter from the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and that the state began investigating Merritt based on a complaint forwarded by the county in November. Merritt said that since November, government inspectors have been "harassing him" about work he did on a house for a local doctor. He said the home normally would have cost $750,000 to build, but he bid the project at $350,000 because Dr. John Batista was a friend. But in building the home, Tolbert said, the owners found problems with the construction that stretched "from here to Timbuktu." When the company called for inspections, for instance, inspectors found the workers had put up siding before the sheeting could be inspected. The county forced the workers to remove the siding, and then discovered that the nails had been put in improperly. Only after several meetings and much additional work were those items resolved, Tolbert said. "Last I heard, there were still issues on the house pertaining to the final framing and the work had essentially stopped," Tolbert said. Merritt denied blame for any of the problems. All builders put up siding before inspections are done, he said, and, as a courtesy, inspectors simply "bang on the walls" to make sure they are secure. He said this practice was not extended to him because of political enemies he made during his commission campaign. "They are nitpicking me to death," he said. "I have done nothing wrong, and I don't know what's going on. They just don't want me in business."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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